Chuck Cooper/Special to the News Sentinel
Knoxville Pipes &amp; Drums band members put on their official Scottish regalia when competing in Eastern United States Pipe Band competitions.

T. Wayne Waters/Special to the News Sentinel
Knoxville Pipes &amp; Drums band member and instructor Vince Ayub, right, teaches his students to play the bagpipe using a practice chanter. Ayub competes in both individual and band competitions.

Quite a musical ruckus is being raised on Monday nights in the lower level of Thaw Hall on the Maryville College campus. That's where Knoxville Pipes & Drums holds its weekly bagpipe and drum lessons, including the beginning bagpipe class.

In one room of this library building enclave, instructor Vince Ayub sits at a small desk surrounded by aspiring bagpipers. All but one hold the instrument they will use for their beginning bagpipe lessons. None holds a bagpipe.

People learning to play a bagpipe are taught with just a "pipe" and no bag. The pipe is a practice chanter, a small plastic or wooden wind instrument that essentially combines what are otherwise two separate pieces of the whole bagpipe ensemble — the mouthpiece and the chanter — into one practice wind instrument that's more easily manipulated. Beginners learn the basics of fingering and breath control without worrying about the added dimension of the bag.

Two of the four participants in this latest beginner's class have considerable previous bagpipe experience, and one plays saxophone. The other is middle-aged Gary Kinder, an absolute beginner with no previous musical instruction whatsoever.

Kinder, a dentist in West Knoxville, describes himself as an "empty-nester" with more free time these days to pursue whatever interests may tickle his fancy. He admits playing the bagpipe isn't easy.

"You have to have the right posture, the right lip muscle control," said Kinder. "You have to have the right fingers covering the right holes with each hand. Your right hand has to learn what it's got to do and then your left hand — or as they call it, the upper hand and the lower hand — has to learn what it's got to do. Then you have to work both hands together. Then, with all of this, I'm learning to read musical notes. Each finger position corresponds to a certain note. Then there's the timing of the note. And it's got to all come together."

But Kinder said he likes working in the group-lesson environment and feels he's up for the challenge.

"I just need to not get ahead of myself and eventually I'll get there," he said. "I've improved."

Recent University of Tennessee grad Kyle Splane didn't have any musical experience either when he first took bagpipe lessons as a high school junior.

Splane progressed to the point of playing in public with KPD before taking an extended break to concentrate on his accounting studies at UT. That was about five years ago.

"I'm sitting in on the beginning lessons to make sure I don't pick up any bad habits before I jump back in all the way," said Splane. "I had a little trouble reading the music but I heard the songs and my fingers just followed along. It was a lot of muscle memory."

Kinder and Splane, along with fellow students 16-year-old Christopher Dunn and 12-year-old Christian Fox, are being taught by KPD member Vince Ayub. Ayub claims KPD allegiance of another sort, as well, in his job as a lieutenant in the forensics unit of the Knoxville Police Department.

Ayub said he's long loved bagpipes. "The haunting, pushing sound of a bagpipe has attracted me since my youth."

He was 53 when he took the beginner's class himself about six years ago with no musical background. He now teaches beginners, competes in Eastern United States Pipe Band competitions both as an individual and as a KPD band member, and appreciates more than ever the instrument's versatility.

"Most people associate bagpipes with "Amazing Grace" at funerals, but they offer a lot of variety," noted Ayub. "You can also play dance music."

Ayub says achieving intermediate status on the chanter can often be accomplished in about six months and then another six months to get to full-bagpipe level. Another four to six months beyond that is usually required to get to true public-performance competency with full bagpipes.

Beginning bagpipers typically spend about $75 for a practice chanter and $13 for the instruction book. There is no instruction fee.